Teacher contract no done deal

Without providing specific details, leaders of the Chico Unified Teachers Association told a gathering of parents on Tuesday (March 31) that contract negotiations between the union and the Chico Unified School District have progressed and an agreement may be close at hand.

Negotiations for the 2014-15 contract hit an impasse last October and the state stepped in to mandate a fact-finding report. That report, from a three-member panel that has heard each side’s case, will be issued April 10. That will be followed by a 10-day period in which the district will make its final offer, which the union can either accept or vote on whether to strike—something that has never happened in the district’s history.

Complicating the matter is the fact that negotiations for the 2015-16 contract already have seen two sessions despite the ongoing conflict over the current year’s contract.

Tuesday’s meeting at the Masonic Lodge on East Avenue was conducted by CUTA President Kevin Moretti and Joe Asnault, CUTA vice president, as well as Michelle Bunch, a language arts support teacher, and Chris Montgomery, a Chico Junior High teacher and the union’s political adviser.

The union leaders laid out their grievances with the district, which range from relatively low pay to mandated student assessment tests to the high number of layoff notices that are sent out to teachers in the spring and then rescinded just before the fall semester begins.

The union said Chico teachers’ average wages ($38,541) rank 12th out of 14 comparable districts, including Marysville ($44,084), Oroville Elementary ($43,922) and Gridley ($42,815).

The contract negotiations are about more than money, Asnault said, and include things like the teachers’ lack of say about the district-ordered assessment tests.

“We’re not against assessment of the students,” Asnault said. “We have to do it, but the teachers have no input. We need to do some testing, but this is too much when combined with state-mandated assessment tests.”

CUSD Vice President Bob Feaster said the union’s objection to the assessment tests is an empty argument because it is part of the 2015-16 contract.

“The parties are talking and both are hopeful that we can find a settlement,” he said. “But the test assessment issue is not open to negotiations for the 2014-15 year.”

He said the district has offered the teachers an 8.9 percent increase in wages and benefits over two years, which to this point the union has rejected.

Asnault accused the district of orchestrating a strike by hiring a consultant, advertising for substitute teachers and allowing a waiver so that those substitutes do not have to pass the California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST). The substitutes would be paid $280 a day, well above the $78 a day they are paid under normal circumstances.

“I understand they have to plan [for a possible strike],” he said. “At the same time I would rather see them direct their energy toward a settlement.”

Feaster said in an emergency like a teacher’s strike, the state allows the district to hire those with bachelor’s degrees who have never taken the CBEST. The district employs 680 teachers, he said, and is hoping to hire at least half that many substitutes if a strike occurs.

“The district has to prepare for a strike and has been planning for three weeks,” he said. “We have to have a prudent plan in place. Hundreds of people have shown interest and we are processing 10 to 15 people a day as possible subs.”

CUSD school board member Eileen Robinson attended the meeting and was both optimistic and neutral in her assessment of the situation.

“I agree that we are down to little things and I am very hopeful that we are going to reach a settlement,” she said, adding that she sees the pros and cons of a lot of issues raised by both sides.